The present invention relates to agricultural equipment and, more particularly, to apparatus for handling and feeding bales of hay to livestock, especially large square bales that comprise a series of rectangular flakes of compacted crop materials.
Prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,564,325 owned by the assignee of the present invention is directed to a self-loading bed assembly for flat-bed trucks to adapt the truck to pick-up, transport, and then feed or off-load one or more big round bales. The actuating mechanism for the bale lifting arms of the device is located underneath the bed, and the lift arms are designed to slip down into recesses in the bed when the arms are in a stored position so that the arms are substantially flush with the top surface of the bed. This leaves the bed unobstructed by the device and permits the bed to be used for all kinds of other projects.
Large square bales have become progressively more attractive to small farmers and ranchers in recent years for feeding to their livestock. However, it is economically unsound for many small farmers and ranchers to obtain single-purpose equipment devoted exclusively to handling and feeding large square bales. Therefore, many have resorted to loading one or more of the bales onto the bed of a flat bed truck and then feeding the bales by hand in the field, tearing the bales apart flake-by-flake and throwing them to the ground as another person drives the vehicle. Feeding from a truck that can also be used for many other purposes obviously has economic advantages for the small farmer and rancher, but it is difficult for one person to do the job effectively.
In one embodiment, the present invention comprises an extension of the highly successful bale handling bed concepts disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,564,325. While the bed assembly of that patent was initially intended to have primary utility for round bales, it has now been discovered that many of its concepts are applicable to square bales as well. With certain modifications, the assembly can be adapted to permit the user to retrieve, transport and feed square bales, one flake at a time, without leaving the cab of the truck, except for cutting the twines that bind the bale. At the same time, the modified bed can still be used for the retrieval, feeding, and transport of round bales. When not feeding or transporting bales, the largely exposed and unobstructed bed leaves the truck available for a myriad of other uses around the ranch or farm.
In one embodiment of the invention, a square bale feeding bed assembly has a transverse feeder at the front end of the bed within the reach of the bale lift arms. Thus, the lift arms that swing down from the back end of the bed to retrieve a bale can be used to lift a square bale from the ground and deposit it on the feeder for transport to the feeding site. At the feeding site, the feeder is periodically engaged to advance the square bale endwise toward one side of the bed, at which point the individual flakes of the bale successively fall off the feeder and onto the ground. Discharge of the flakes is aided by the use of a discharge station on the feeder that is at the receiving end of a conveyor for the bale and by a special separator associated with that station that underlies each flake as it is presented to the station and engages the bottom of the flake and projects it outwardly off the feeder for gravitation to the ground. Feeding is also aided by the fact that the feeder incorporates a ramp that is normally raised into an upwardly inclined operating position for feeding purposes such that the bale is advanced slightly up hill as it moves toward the discharge end of the feeder. This arrangement is particularly beneficial in preventing more than one flake from feeding at a time.
The feeder can be retro-fitted onto existing bed assemblies already in the field and constructed in accordance with the teachings of the ""325 patent. Alternatively, the feeder may comprise part of a completely new bed assembly that may or may not utilize lift arms that are flush-mounted as contemplated by the ""325 patent. Further, the feeder may be loaded by external means not part of the bed assembly, and may be positioned in a variety of orientations for feeding in different directions. Additionally, the feeder has utility totally separate and apart from mobile vehicles and may be used at stationary sites, or on wagons and the like.